Carlsberg Outdoes Coca-Cola With Free Beer-Dispensing Billboard

You might remember that earlier this month, Coca-Cola experimented with a billboard that dispensed free samples of Coke Zero to thirsty visitors near the site of the final games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Why can’t the same technology work for more adult beverages?

It could, of course. The current marketing push for Danish brewer Calsberg in the UK is that they’re “probably the best,” so they decided to build some ads around the idea of the “best” poster. We’d call it a billboard.

Of course, the appeal of the Coke billboard was that it let people take their own samples, and could be run independently. This is just a great big sign with a keg and tap slapped in the middle. That means it has to be supervised at all times, which it was: so it could be filmed for this commercial. Diet soda isn’t a restricted substance, either.

“Our ambition was to create the world’s best poster, and one that serves beer could certainly fit the bill,” explained one of the founders of an ad agency behind the campaign. It makes a nice video and a nice idea to talk about, but not really something that you could make available 24/7 nationwide or worldwide.